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Joint Honours Component English - Cultural Studies (36 credits)

Offered by: English
Degree: Bachelor of Arts

Program Requirements

Students who wish to study at the Honours level in two Arts disciplines may apply to combine Joint Honours program components from two Arts disciplines. For a list of available Joint Honours programs, see "Overview of Programs Offered" and "Joint Honours Programs". Applications to do a Joint Honours program in English and another subject in the Faculty of Arts should be submitted once a minimum of 9 credits, and no more than 18 credits, have been completed in English. There are normally two possible application dates for Joint Honours in English: either by the end of January (by which time first-term courses are completed and the grades are available), or at the same time as the Honours application date, typically in mid-April. (Only students who will have completed more than 18 credits in English by the end of January may apply in the Fall.) Applications will be considered by the Department's Honours Committee on the basis of the student's program GPA, at a minimum of 3.50. The application form is available in the Department's General Office (Arts 155), and the specific submission requirements are described by that form.

The maintenance of a 3.50 program GPA is required for continuation in Joint Honours. Graduation with Joint Honours requires a minimum CGPA of 3.00, a minimum program GPA of 3.50, and a minimum mark of B+ on the Honours Essay. Graduation with First Class Joint Honours in English requires a minimum CGPA of 3.50, a minimum program GPA of 3.70, and a minimum mark of A on the Honours Essay.

Each academic year, there is a special adviser for Joint Honours students, and the receptionist in the General Office can provide their name and contact information. The Department's website http://www.mcgill.ca/english/ provides additional information on the Joint Honours program and applications, and this website should also be consulted prior to contacting the Adviser.

Required Courses (9 credits)

Overview

English (Arts) : A survey of cultural studies, its history and subject matter, presenting key interpretive and analytic concepts, the aesthetic and political issues involved in the construction of sign systems, definitions of culture and cultural values conceptualized both as a way of life and as a set of actual practices and products.

Overview

English (Arts) : A study of basic methodologies found in cultural studies, such as forms of historicism, Marxism, psychoanalysis, philosophical materialism, feminism, gender theory. Topics such as aesthetics and film theory, authorship and spectatorship, modernism and postmodernism will be considered. Examples to be drawn from film, television, popular culture, and traditional literature.

Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2013-2014 academic year.

Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2013-2014 academic year.

Overview

English (Arts) : This course, normally taken in tandem with ENGL 276, examines contemporary debates about the aesthetic dimensions as well as social roles of pictorial, theatrical, cinematic, and other representations, the meanings, effects, and aesthetic significance of which depend on their having visually recognizable features.

Terms: Winter 2014

Instructors: Ara Osterweil (Winter)

Winter

Restriction: Limited to students in the English Major Concentration, Cultural Studies Option

Complementary Courses (27 credits)

27 credits selected as described below.

In addition to the 6-credit requirement for Advanced Study described below, all Joint Honours students' programs of study shall include 6 credits of study at the 400 level or above. Students are encouraged to take courses at the 300 level and above.

Note on Topics Courses: The Department of English offers courses which change topic from academic year to academic year. Depending on the topic in a specific year, these courses may count toward different program requirements. At the time they register for a topics course, students should confirm with their program adviser the program requirement it fulfils for that academic year.

Advanced Study

6 credits of advanced study, in one of the following two forms A or B, in order of preference:

Overview

Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2013-2014 academic year.

Prerequisite: ENGL 491D1

No credit will be given for this course unless both ENGL 491D1 and ENGL 491D2 are successfully completed in consecutive terms

ENGL 491D1 and ENGL 491D2 together are equivalent to ENGL 491

B) Two 3-credit 500-level courses selected in consultation with the student's adviser(s).

(In very rare cases, a third alternative may be approved at the discretion of the Joint Honours Adviser, but only when it is formally recommended for the joint subject according to the description of that Joint Honours program found in the Arts section of this publication. For example, Joint Honours with Anthropology allows the option of combining 3 credits of essay work with 3 credits in the joint subject to create a joint essay.)

Major Figures

3 credits from a list of courses on Major Figures in Cultural Studies:

Overview

English (Arts) : A course focusing on textuality (as opposed to, say, intentionality and interpretation) and on how specific effects are made - how texts work and produce meaning, including rhetoric and form.

Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2013-2014 academic year.

Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2013-2014 academic year.

Fall

Restriction: Limited to students in English Major and Honours Programs.

Overview

English (Arts) : Writing, printing, distribution, marketing, and placement within canon-making institutions; the influence of material forms of production and transmission on the creation and reception of literature, film, and theatre.

Terms: Fall 2013

Instructors: Michael Van Dussen (Fall)

Winter

Restriction: Limited to students in English Major and Honours Programs.

Overview

English (Arts) : Introduction to a selection of theories that have influenced thinking about difference across the humanities and social sciences, including gender, sexuality, race, class and hierarchical structures, language, religion, ethnicity, and personal identity.

Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2013-2014 academic year.

Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2013-2014 academic year.

Fall

Restriction: Limited to students in English Major and Honours Programs.

Historical Dimension

3 credits from a list of courses in Cultural Studies with an historical dimension: